Govt has nothing against any individual and is only interested in maintaining CBI’s integrity, says Jaitley
The Centre has described the Supreme Court order seeking the completion of a Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) inquiry into allegations against CBI Director Alok Verma under court supervision as an “extremely positive development”.
In the government’s first reaction to the Supreme Court order, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “The government has no interest for or against any individual. The government is interested in only maintaining the professionalism, the image and the institutional integrity of the CBI.”
He said that recent developments “have eroded the credibility of the Central Bureau of Investigation” and that the “CVC, in the interest of fairness, had passed an order that till investigation or inquiry is pending against the two top officers of the CBI, they must step aside and recuse themselves from the CBI’s function.”
He also gave reasons for Mr. Verma and CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana being sent on administrative leave.
“This was necessary in the larger interest of fairness because you can’t be heading an agency which is investigating into your own conduct,” he said.
Fairness the objective
Stating that the action against Mr. Verma and Mr. Asthana came on the recommendation of CVC, he said the government had given effect to that order. “What has happened in the Supreme Court today is that it has further strengthened the fairness criteria. They have fixed a time limit that this must be over in two weeks which is a positive development, and in order to ensure that the highest standards of fairness are maintained even in the inquiries, they have appointed a retired judge as an oversight judge to ensure that the CVC inquiry is absolutely fair,” he said.
“The truth coming out is in the larger interest of India,” Mr. Jaitley said, adding that “all officers of the CBI, particularly the top few officers, like Caesar’s wife must be beyond suspicion, they must be above suspicion.”
The Minister said the objective of the CVC direction and the government acting on it was that the truth be established, following the highest standards of fairness and the due process of law. “And the two additional steps that the order today by the Supreme Court has ensured, that is, early disposal and oversight judge, only adds to that fairness process, the reason why the government considers it a very positive development,” the Minister said.
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